Students at Mitchell Woods Public School in Guelph, Ont., think their music teacher is on the same level as Drake and Justin Bieber.
That’s because Kelly Stronach is nominated for a Juno Award as the 2022 MusiCounts Teacher of the Year.
MusiCounts, which is a Canadian music education charity, established the award in 2005 to recognize and honour a Canadian music educator’s impact on students and music education.
Stronach is among five teachers from across Canada that have been nominated, with the winner receiving $10,000 for their music program.
In an interview this week, Stronach said she’s actually known since January that she was nominated but had to keep the news to herself until the Juno nominations were announced earlier this week.
While the nod is exciting and unexpected, she said humbly that the nomination is a win for the entire school community.
“At Mitchell Woods, the teachers are so hardworking and so caring and so compassionate, and it just feels a little strange to be singled out from that because it’s an amazing team that I am a part of,” she said.
Stronach has been teaching at Mitchell Woods for six years and along with being the school’s only music teacher, she is involved with so many fundraising efforts along with extracurricular and after-school programs including the Gay-Straight Alliance Club.
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“It’s just something I thought some of our students really needed a place to feel comfortable and safe being themselves,” she said.
“Thankfully, I think our school, in general, is that. But it was a nice chance to bring kids together. Sometimes, it’s very informal, like a safe space to hang out at recess.”
Along with making students feel safe at school, Stronach’s mission, and the school’s for that matter, is ensuring every student is included, which is why she has such a focus on equity and inclusion.
“After seeing what music can do for so many kids, it’s become sort of a mission that we have to make sure that every kid can enjoy it, that there’s no boundaries, there’s no barriers stopping them from being able to play music and learn it,” Stronach said.
She has spent countless hours fundraising to help pay for instruments and other resources in the music programs, to make sure every student has an opportunity to play.
Stronach said the program has also received grants in the past, including from MusiCounts.
It also means giving up some of her planning time during school to sit with students at recess or lunch and introduce them to music.
“That’s when you see the kids that maybe have some struggles, whether it’s socially or academically or whatever it might be,” she said.
“None of that matters. When they get in this room where they’re all together and we’re jamming on a song and it just gets rid of all those other things, and they just have fun with each other.”
Principal of Mitchell Woods Mair Gault said her music teacher will also go out of her way to arrange field trips, performances and competitions for her students. Stronach will even arrange for students to perform at various music festivals, Guelph Storm games, and shows at long-term care facilities.
But it’s the little things that she does so well, Gault said.
“I’ve seen her do things like teach students guitar lessons and it looks like what they’re doing is learning guitar but actually what they are accessing is an opportunity to be with a safe person in a safe place,” she said.
Gault echoed Stronach’s statement in saying that it takes a village for this nomination to happen.
“Kelly is incredible and she works alongside an incredible staff, parent community and most of all the students in our school,” she said. “All of them are so excited for her and that’s the type of school we’re in. We’re all in this together.”
For Stronach, the nomination is amazing and wonderful, she said, but to her it’s also separate.
“I don’t know, I feel like this is the prize. My job is so much fun and I kind of feel like I already won,” she said.
The Juno Awards are scheduled for May 15.
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